The Pretender
by ZoeMehefin
Summary: When Nick Fury hires a personal assistant for Tony and Bruce it was assumed she would make their life easier. But one amnesia patient and a blind date lead to a lot more than they were expecting. Post-Avengers. Sort of OCxLoki, you'll see what I mean as you read. Completed!
1. Chapter 1

Nurse Foster sat, waiting for the patient to wake up. She'd had to do this every morning, but I suppose that was the meaning of 'under observation'. The patient stirred, his brow furrowed and he started to cough. Nurse Foster leapt into action, giving him some water and helping him into a sitting position. The black haired gentleman drank the water quickly.

"More. Please." He requested. Nurse Foster had been looking after him for about a month now and was used to seeing him. He was a good looking man with his dark hair and startling green eyes. Tall too; he towered over her and she wasn't exactly small.

"And how are you feeling today sir?" She poured him more water.

"I uh...good, all things considered." Nurse Foster nodded. The patient had been admitted after what was assumed to be a small plane crash. He had no memory of his life, any family, friends, not even his own identity. But ask him factual questions, maths, science, he was a genius. And she'd never known someone with memory loss to be so, charismatic.

"Well Nurse Foster, how is our dear friend doing today?" A small tanned woman in a white coat entered the room.

"He's made brilliant progress Doctor Thurston. I believe he may be allowed to leave soon."

"Any clues to your identity?" Thurston asked the patient directly.

"No...Nothing has come up." The patient wrung his hands.

"Well, we have literally no idea where you came from, and we can't keep you here because there is nothing medically wrong with you. Unless you want to be committed, you have to..."

"Lucas Doe." The patient replied quickly. "You can call me Lucas Doe."

"Pardon?"

"If I have to have an identity, I'll make one up. Lucas Doe sounds nice enough."

Doctor Thurston looked at her chart, and mulled it over for a moment.

"Okay Mr Doe, it was a pleasure treating you. I hope we don't see you again too soon. I'll get these discharge papers sorted and you'll be out by this afternoon."

"Thank you, Dr Thurston. It was a pleasure being your patient. And it was wonderful having such a wonderful nurse, perhaps you should pay Ms Foster a little more."

Nurse Foster blushed and Dr Thurston laughed.

"Maybe I will Mr Doe, maybe I will."


	2. Chapter 2

Within six months, every American knew who Lucas Doe was, or had at least seen his work. He'd catapulted to success in advertising and public image management. But with all the money, the luxury apartment and the just-good-enough car, he still felt something was wrong, that he wasn't supposed to be here.  
He stared at himself in the mirror almost daily, trying to figure out what his family might look like (if he even had any), praying that someday he'd get a call from Doctor Thurston and he'd stop feeling so alone.

One morning, after staring in the mirror even longer than he had before, Lucas headed off to a business brunch with some executives from Stark industries. It was unlike any job interview he'd had. For one, it was in a restaurant, but they had approached him. He was looking forward to becoming Mr Stark's 'Image manager'. Maybe he'd be able to travel for work instead of being stuck in his home office.

He'd always wanted to go to London.

The men from Stark industries were exactly what he'd expected. Three men in suits with such stern expressions Lucas wondered if they were simply a more advanced group of robots. This was entirely possible given Mr Stark's reputation.

"Mr Doe, so nice of you to join us." the first gentleman stood and offered his hand, which Lucas shook before taking a seat.

"Thank you for asking to see me, I believe Stark industries and I will make quite the team." Lucas' speech was interrupted by a shrill voice.

"Good evening gentlemen, what you are ordering this evening?"

Lucas waited patiently for the other men to order, internally cursing the waitress's interruption.

"And you?" She smiled, pen hovering over her notepad.

"Uh, I'll have the Salmon and some whiskey to drink."

"Excellent choice," I'll be back in a moment with your drinks, and your food will be along shortly."

During the meeting, Lucas and the team discussed what he would do to improve Stark's image, getting him even further away from the weapons expert of the past.

"Do you have any questions for us?" The third gentleman asked while politely declining some dessert, thus signalling the end of the meeting.

"Yes, will I be working with Mr Stark personally at all?"

"Sadly no, your job is to simply represent Mr Stark, and also appear at social events he does not wish to attend."

"So I'm a space filler?"

"Yes. If you must know you were selected for your;" the first gentleman pulled out a notepad, "Pleasant appearance, high level of charisma and intolerance for time wasters."

"We are very interested in your working for us, Mr Doe. The pay is good, and you will not have to pay for transport or appropriate dress. You will also work with a board once a week to discuss advertisement campaigns. You will have a personal assistant who will pass on everything to Mr Stark."

"Sounds pleasant." Lucas sipped his drink.

"So will you take the job?"

"Of course." Lucas stood, and the gentlemen shook hands with him in turn before leaving.

Across town a young woman also shook hands, with one Nick Fury, Director of SHEILD.

"Lyn Barker?"

"Yes, Director Fury?"

"Thank you for taking on this...Difficult mission. You've been told the risks?"

"Yes sir."

"You know you'll be working long hours?"

"I can handle it sir."

"Okay, are you ready to start?"

"Yes, Sir."

Director Fury nodded and pulled out a key card to the door they were stood by. The doors slid open without a sound. The two of them walked in, Lyn taking in the laboratory around her.

"Director Fury, what are you doing here?" A dark haired man with glasses moved out from behind a touch screen. He looked like he hadn't slept in quite a while.

"Dr Banner, This is Miss Barker. Yours and Mr Stark's new assistant and liaison."

There was a pause as Dr Banner looked her up and down. Lyn didn't like it when people did that. She'd always felt she was very ordinary, which was probably why she had been dying her hair green since she was 18, and still didn't like people looking at her.

"I'll leave you to become acquainted. Where's Tony?"

"Date." Dr Banner replied almost bitterly.

"Be sure to tell him."

"I will."

Lyn and Dr Banner chatted as he showed her round the lab.

"Did Tony hire you?" he asked suddenly.

"No, Director Fury did. He said you needed monitoring."

"Hmph."

Lyn could tell she struck a nerve, she reminded herself to actually read that file Fury gave her.

"So, um, When is Mr Stark going to be"

Lyn's question was cut off by a brown haired man in a shirt and jeans entering the lab.

"BRUCE! What mundane nationwide problem does Fury want us to solve this afterno-who is this woman and why is she in our science bro room of awesome."

"This is Lyn Barker, our new assistant. Do you even read the memos Fury sends anymore?"

"I have a spam filter."

"And the director of SHEILD doesn't make the cut?" Lyn chipped in. Tony looked at her, before looking at Bruce.

"Did I hire her?"


	3. Chapter 3

"LYN!" Lyn was attacked by a small blonde whirlwind, otherwise known as her roommate Emily, as she walked in the door. "Did you get the job?"

"Yes I got the job. Would I have spent the whole day there if I hadn't?"

"Good point," Emily pulled Lyn to the sofa and rushed to turn on the kettle. "Does this mean you can introduce me to them?"

"To who?"

"The Avengers!" She squealed, thumping down onto the sofa.

"Which one?"

"Any of them! They're awesome!"

"No, they're my colleagues now! I have to be professional!"

There was a pause as the kettle boiled. Emily made them some tea and scared Lyn slightly by rushing back over. Not that she should have worried, Emily was the best and quickest waitress she'd ever seen.

"Do you think you'll like working there?"

"I think so. It's...it won't be dull."

Emily gasped as she was struck with an idea.

"Does this mean you know Spiderman!?"

"NO!"

Lucas closed the door of his apartment behind him.

"I'm home..." he whispered sadly.


	4. Chapter 4

Lyn strode into Stark tower with a coffee in each hand. She reached a problem at the door, but luckily the older security guard was on the other side and opened the door for her. As she returned his smile, she couldn't help but think about how odd people with moustaches looked when smiling. Or talking.

"Good morning Stan!"

"Morning Lyn, who's the coffee for?" The guard adjusted his glasses as they walked to the elevator.

"Tony and Bruce, who else?"

"What floor is it again?"

"Second from the top."

Stan pressed the button and stayed in the lobby as the doors closed. Lyn gently waved one of her hands to show thanks, trying not to spill Bruce's decaf.

"Morning gentlemen! Bruce here's your decaf; Tony here's your black extra strong."

"Brilliant. What's on the agenda for today Barker?" Tony asked as he took the coffee while Bruce uttered a 'Thanks' and returned to his screen. Since Loki had been captured, Odin had allowed the tesseract to be analysed, but only by Tony and Bruce.

"Well yet again you're supposed to go to that image consult meeting with Mr Doe and the rest of the board..."

"Eh, busy with the tesseract again."

"Then why did you ask?"

"So I knew what I was cancelling on."

Lyn rolled her eyes and shifted her attention to Bruce, pulling some paper from her satchel.

"Dr Banner your signature is needed on these requisition forms you sent yesterday that are due back tomorrow."

"You said they were due yesterday."

"That's because I knew you'd forget to sign somewhere, as these forms are so darn complicated for something so simple."

"Okay then." Bruce signed the papers where Lyn pointed.

"I'll be back in 5; I need to give these to Fury. Tony, don't blow up the lab. Bruce..."

Bruce looked up at Lyn, eyebrow raised.

"...Don't let him."

While in the hallway, Lyn bumped into one Clint Barton.

"Hello...who are you?"

"Tony and Bruce's assistant. I started 3 months ago. You wouldn't have known that, being in Egypt and all..." There was a pause as Clint looked her up and down.

"Did Tony hire you?"

* * *

Lucas sat at the head of the table, tracing his finger around the rim of his glass.

"Is Mr Stark attending or not?" He asked the table.

"It appears not...again."

Lucas rubbed the bridge of his nose.

"Okay then. Let us begin..."

After the meeting, Lucas was ambushed by the only friend he'd made in 8 months. Nate.

"Hey Lucas! Want to come for a drink later? I've got some big news I want to tell ya!"

"Okay, okay. I'll be done by...5. Is that good?"

"Brilliant."

Later that evening Lucas and Nate sat at a bar, laughing.

"So what was the reason you invited me out again?" Lucas asked.

"Well, you know Max and I have been dating for quite a while now..."

Lucas' thoughts drifted. He'd met Max a few times. Tall guy, red hair, apparently part Scottish. He realised Nate was still talking, and paid attention again.

"I'm thinking of proposing to him. What do you think?"

Lucas was stunned. Partly because of Nate's news, but also because he finally realised. He finally realised why he felt so alone in the mornings, why he felt like there was something, no, someone he was missing.

"That's amazing Nate!" He said when his head finally let his mouth work.

"Thanks Lucas, I knew I could count on you to be happy for me." Nate smiled, finishing his drink.

As Lucas prepared for bed that night, he looked at himself in the mirror. For once he actually looked at himself. He was a good looking guy, good cheekbones, brilliant green eyes that were sometimes blue. He smiled to himself.

"Tomorrow's going to be a good day."


	5. Chapter 5

Lyn sat at her desk, furiously writing.

"What are you doing?" Tony sat on the edge of her desk. Lyn glanced up before returning to her work.

"You two requisition stuff that's hard to find Tony, I have to...What's wrong?" Tony had a stern expression. Lyn had never seen him look so serious, it was extremely unusual.

"I had Jarvis conduct a background check on you. Your first day here. Results came back an hour ago."

"That long? I though Jarvis was up to more..."

"Changing your name really confused him, especially on the employment history."

"Lyn Barker is my real name."

"What about Megan Pritchard, Hannah Jackson, Carla Lecter, oh and my personal favourite, Arwen Undomiel."

"I liked the films. Liv Tyler is amazing." Lyn folded her arms and leant back in her chair.

"Oh yes, no doubt, but I'm more amazed how you never got caught."

Tony had Lyn's full attention. It was true. She'd worked in a lot of places, while also working for other companies. It was nothing too bad, she just sold information.

"Look, I stole things from companies and sold them to others. I was a student, I had bills to pay!"

"So you've stopped?"

"Yes. I stopped about 5 years ago, did Jarvis tell you that?" Tony paused, proving Lyn right.

"I was still curious. You worked for Bruce. Did you sell his ideas?"

"No. I was going to. The...incident with Bruce happened a few days before I sent off my info. I told them it had all been destroyed."

"Why would you do that? Your information would be worth even more."

"I have morals. I knew that information was highly dangerous and I wasn't going to sell it off for all the money in the world. You can trust me Tony."

"We'll see." Tony started walking back to the main part of the lab. "By the way, why did you leave your last job, it never said."

"My previous employer decided to change his interests to herpetology, it didn't end well."

Tony smirked and returned to his desk.

* * *

"Are you serious? What makes you think I know someone?" Nate laughed. Lucas arched his eyebrow.

"Nate, when have you ever known me to make a joke?"

"Once, New years. You told that one about the golfer."

"I was drunk."

"And you have never been funnier." Nate patted Lucas on the cheek. Lucas did not look impressed.

"Can you find me someone or not?"

"I'll ask about. Do you really want a blind date?"

"Yeah, I want what you and Max have."

"Copious amounts of blasphemous gay sex?"

"Didn't want to know that bit of information and No, I mean a relationship."

"I'll see what I can do. See you later?"

"I have a lot of work, maybe."

Nate rolled his eyes and left the office.


	6. Chapter 6

Lucas looked down at the disintegrated napkin he'd been nervously destroying since he arrived. She was only 5 minutes late. He wondered if she had been scared off by how fancy the restaurant was. He just had the urge to show off a little, first impressions and all. He tore off another bit of the napkin and let it fall into his lap.

"Lucas Doe, you sure know how to impress a girl."

Lucas looked up at his date and quickly brushed the napkin pieces off his lap. She was a tall girl with green hair which he assumed was dyed. He was kind of worried as to who Nate had set him up with.

"Lyn, right?" he asked, standing to greet her. Nate hadn't said much about the girl. She was a PA at a very big company; she'd only moved to New York recently and lived with a girl called Emily, Max's cousin, which was how he knew her.

"Lyn Barker." she replied as he took her hand and kissed it. She didn't blush, but the corners of her mouth visibly twitched. They both sat down.

"So Nate told me you work as a PA?"

"Mmmhm" Lyn nodded as she swallowed her water. "For Mr Stark and Dr Banner."

"Really?" Lucas pulled closer to the table, "I represent Stark! Haven't ever met the guy though; He never shows up for meetings."

"Yeah, he prefers to spend most of his time in the Lab with Dr Banner."

Lucas laughed.

"Are we really going to spend this date talking about Tony Stark?"

"Maybe not..." Lyn smiled.

* * *

The end of the evening came about and the two of them sat on a bench outside the restaurant. Lucas was laughing.

"So this guy, Thor, just wandered in, completely naked?"

"Well, no, he had the cape on."

Lucas laughed even more, Lyn laughed with him. When they eventually stopped laughing, Lyn spoke.

"So, what now?"

"What do you mean?" Lucas was confused.

"Are we going to spend more time together or is this it? End here, nice to meet you..."

Lyn trailed off. Lucas was smiling at her, laughing slightly.

"What's so funny?"


	7. Chapter 7

"Here's your coffee Bruce, Tony." Lyn said as she walked into the lab.

"Someone had fun last night." Tony laughed, "Yours or his?"

"I don't know what you're talking about Tony."

"I saw you last night, walking into the restaurant. Didn't see your date though, guy or girl?"

"Guy. You wouldn't know him."

"I doubt we do." Bruce chimed in. "Tony, let the poor girl have a private life."

"Thanks Bruce. I'll be at my desk if you need anything."

Lyn was at her desk for a few minutes before Bruce stood in front of her.

"So you had a date?" Bruce asked.

"What happened to me having a private life?"

"Oh come on, is it because he's ugly?" Tony chimed in from the lab.

"No!"

"Then who is he?"

"He's..."

"Lucas!" Nate burst into the office. "How was your date last night?"

"Good, how was Max meeting the in-laws?"

"Brilliant. Mom and Dad loved him, turns out Dad has a real soft spot for a Scottish accent."

"Seriously?"

"No! Dad's still a homophobic arse and my mother still cries over not having grandchildren. Tell me about Lyn! Is she nice?"

"Very."

"Pretty?"

"Gorgeous."

"Good in bed?"

"What?"

"You heard me."

"I didn't sleep with her!"

"Lucas. You're wearing the same suit you were when you left for the restaurant yesterday."

"I didn't!" Lucas stood sharply.

"There's even the sauce stain from lunch yesterday on your tie."

There was a pause. Nate glared at Lucas.

"Fine! I slept with her!" He sat down in resignation, rubbing his temples.

"How was it?"

"You're gay!"

"Still interested. It's basically your first time." Nate leant on the desk, chin in his hands.

"It was...good." Lucas smiled. "I'm definitely seeing her again."


	8. Chapter 8

Lyn was preparing to leave for the day when a hand slammed down on her desk.

"What Tony?"

"We're going out; do you want to come with us?"

"Who's 'us'?"

"All of us: Bruce, Clint, Thor the Cap..."

"The Avengers."

"Yup."

Lyn smiled.

"Can I bring a friend?"

"Go for it."

"I can't believe you invited me out with your work friends!" Emily squealed. "Why didn't you invite Lucas or something?"

"I think it's a little too soon for him to meet my colleagues."

"He's met me!"

"You're his friend's fiancé's cousin. Just be cool okay, they're regular people."

"I promise!"

Lyn and Emily walked into the bar. It was empty except for a small gathering at one table.

"Lyn!" Tony cheered, clearly a little drunk already.

"Hi, this is Emily, my roommate." Lyn said. Emily made a high pitched noise and waved one hand.

"Sit down, we won't bite," A blonde haired mad, Steve Rogers, smiled and gestured to two empty seats to one side of him. Emily instantly sat down next to Steve, while Lyn ended up sitting next to Bruce, who had a glass of water in front of him.

"Not drinking?" She asked.

"You really think I'd be one to drink?"

"Everyone can drink a little, Bruce. If you want I'll be your minder."

"You don't drink?"

"I've got a date tomorrow. Tony gave me the day off."

Bruce opened his mouth to ask a question, but he was cut off by Thor.

"Lyn!" He boomed. Lyn smiled at Bruce and got up to join Thor at the other side of the table. A red haired woman was talking with Clint.

"Hi, uh, Thor right?"

Thor chuckled.

"You have heard of me."

"A little. Mostly I've heard of your brother. Tony curses him all the time."

Tony looked up.

"Loki..." he muttered bitterly before sipping his drink. There was an awkward pause.

"Anyway, what did you want to talk to me about?"

"You work for Stark, correct?"

"And Dr Banner."

"Was it Stark who hired you?"

The rest of the table exploded into laughter.


	9. Chapter 9

A few months had passed since Emily had met the Avengers, and she still wouldn't shut up about them.

"Steve was so nice! We spent all evening talking about our favourite books!"

"Uh huh..." Lyn was busy getting ready for her Friday night date with Lucas.

"He was so courteous! And his smile, god I could watch him smile for hours."

"Don't you have a boyfriend?" Lyn turned to look at Emily, eyebrow arched.

"No, John and I broke up a week ago, which you'd have known if you weren't hanging out with Lucas all the time."

"What? Are you okay?" Lyn sat down next to Emily.

"I'm fine. He was an arse near the end anyway. He told me superheroes were just assholes that caused massive amounts of property damage."

"Well he is an insurance claim manager."

"Still! There would be a lot more people damage without them!"

"People damage?"

"You know what I mean" Emily flailed her arms.

"Do you want to come with me and Lucas? Nate and Max are coming anyway, we could turn it into a night out instead."

Emily laughed, "No, enjoy your double date. Being a fifth wheel is not on my to-do list."

Lyn smiled, gave Emily a hug and left for her date.

"Here's your coffee Tony, Bruce can you come talk with me outside." Lyn said as she rushed into the lab Monday morning. Bruce looked at Tony, who shrugged, and followed Lyn outside.

"Uh, yes?"

"We're friends, right?"

"I believe so...what is this about?"

"Well, I had a date with Lucas on Friday."

"You're still seeing him?" Bruce sounded surprised.

"Yes..." Lyn looked at Bruce suspiciously. Just because she never really mentioned the guy around them didn't mean she wasn't seeing him.

"Sorry you just, didn't mention seeing him again."

"Right well, I may be mentioning him a lot more...maybe. Or less to a point of not at all…"

"Do you have something to tell us?" Bruce interrupted. Lyn looked flustered. He ran over all the possibilities of what could have happened. Had Lucas regained his memory, or found his real family. Maybe he'd got a job elsewhere and they didn't know if a long term relationship would work. Or maybe they'd had a fight. He hoped it didn't involve the Avengers at all. Bruce stopped thinking and looked at Lyn again, she was struggling to speak.

"Uh, well, I trust your opinion Bruce, and this is a pretty big decision. I'd have asked Emily but she's too biased. Plus her and her boyfriend just broke up…"

"Lyn, what is it?"

Lyn took a deep breath.

"Lucas proposed and I told him I'd think about it and that was on Friday and I'm freaking out because what if he thinks I'm taking too long because I don't love him but I do!" Lyn pressed her hands to her mouth.

"You love him?"

"Yeah…I do."

"Then you know what you have to do."

Lucas stepped out of the shower to the sound of his phone ringing on the sink side. He looked at the call ID.

"Good morning Lyn. You've caught me at a bad time, I'm just shaving."

"Yes."

There was an awkward silence. Lucas finished lathering his face.

"…are you going to add to that at all?" He laughed, inspecting his razor. He began to shave slowly and accurately.

"Lucas. I'm saying yes."

Lucas dropped his razor.

"Really?"

"You sound surprised."

"Well, you said you needed to think, and Nate told me that was as good as a no, so I was just waiting for the 'we can be friends' speech."

"You're paranoid, maybe I shouldn't marry you." Lyn laughed, "I'll see you tonight, you can propose properly then."

"Doesn't that seem a little boring?" Lucas drummed his fingers on the counter, watching the mirror defog.

"Shut up."

"I love you."

"I love you too, that's why I just agreed to marry you."

"Oh, shut up."

Lyn's laugh filled the room before the line went dead. Lucas smiled to himself as he looked at the mirror.

But the mirror didn't smile back. It glared.

_What are you doing? _The mirror asked, his lips not moving. _Who are you, to have such command over me?_

Lucas shook his head, planting his hands firmly on the counter and closed his eyes.

"You're just tired Lucas, you just woke up." He reasoned.

Sure enough, when he opened his eyes again, his reflection mirrored him once again.


	10. Chapter 10

Lucas walked into the office rubbing his head. Nate was sat on the edge of his desk, waiting for him.

"Rough night?"

"You don't know the half of it. You were wrong, by the way." Lucas laughed, pouring some water for himself.

"Unlikely, you've seen my record." Nate shifted to a chair as Lucas sat at his desk.

"Well we should mark the calendars for two reasons then." Lucas smiled. Nate narrowed his eyes.

"She said yes?"

"She said yes."

"That's awesome! We have to go for drinks later!" Nate leapt to his feet.

"Actually we're having an engagement party at mine on Saturday; Lyn is inviting her work friends too."

"Good thing I'm your only work friend. Can I bring Max?"

"I'd be offended if you didn't."

Nate nodded and left Lucas to his work.

* * *

Meanwhile, Lyn stood at the entrance to the lab. Tony was glaring down at some kind of circuitry, a screwdriver in his mouth.

"Tony, where's Bruce, I have to tell him something."

"He's in the lounge with everyone else," the screwdriver clattered onto the desk, clearly Tony had forgotten it was there. "We had a thing last night; they're running over things with Fury."

"I saw on the news. And why aren't you there?"

"Matinence. I can't figure out where this part of circuitry goes into my suit."

Lyn looked at the circuit Tony held up to her.

"You realise I can barely wire a plug right?"

He looked at her blankly.

"Go talk to Bruce."

As Lyn turned to leave, Tony called after her.

"By the way Lyn, nice ring."

Lyn smiled and shook her head, before walking down the hallway to the lounge. She passed Nick on the way, but he was too involved in his tablet. She made a mental note to just send him a memo later.

"Did everyone have a fun evening then?" Lyn asked as she entered the room, "Emily was glued to the TV all night."

"I hope she didn't worry too much. She mentioned she was a worrier." Steve said quietly. Lyn smiled.

"She didn't." Lyn said, knowing that Emily had burst out crying when she thought Steve had been hit.

"What's with the ring?" Clint cut in, pointing at her hand. Natasha elbowed him rather quickly.

"Oh, um…" Lyn turned red. "Lucas and I are getting married."

"PRAISE BE!" Thor roared, "I HOPE YOUR SUITOR IS WORTHY!"

"Are you having a party?" Clint asked, prompting another swift elbow from Natasha. Lyn laughed.

"We are, it's at Lucas' apartment, I'll give you all the address later. Bruce, can you sign these?"

"Congratulations." Bruce whispered as Lyn leant in to show him where to sign.


	11. Chapter 11

Without a doubt, this was the most awkward lift ride Clint had ever experienced. After the initial discussion concerning where everyone had got their suits, the lift had fallen into an awkward silence.

"So Clint, where is Natasha?" Tony asked, breaking the silence.

"She had somewhere else to be, Fury too. He replied with a memo."

"Sounds like him."

"Has anyone actually met Lucas?" Bruce piped up.

"I saw him fetch Lyn from the tower. I only saw the back of his head." Thor replied. "He has dark hair."

"That's going to help." Clint rolled his eyes.

"Actually it will," Steve chimed in. "When I was talking to Emily, she mentioned that Lucas doesn't have many work friends."

Tony and Clint both rolled their eyes at the mention of Emily. Thor opened his mouth to speak when the lift doors opened. Lyn stood in front of them.

"Hi guys, everyone is through here, well, Lucas just popped out to grab some champagne. I suddenly remembered what Thor was like." She laughed, gesturing through to the lounge.

It was an extremely nice apartment, but it seemed a little big for someone who had been a bachelor up until this point. The glass dining table had 12 chairs, the sofa was big enough for 4, and the kitchen had a fridge/freezer that could hold enough food for a family of four, for 2 weeks. Everything about the apartment suggested that Lucas hadn't furnished it himself. There were no pictures of family, only paintings and photographs of landscapes. The only signs that anyone had actually lived here was the coat slung over the arm chair, which had a very visible dent in the seat and a book rested on the arm. Clint could imagine the TV on the wall had never been turned on, but every book in the ornate book shelf had been read, maybe even twice.

"Steve!" A very excited Emily rushed over and took Steve by the hand. "This is my cousin Max, and his fiancé Nate, who works with Lucas. Guys, this is Captain America, or Steve!"

Shortly after the introductions, Lyn handed out glasses filled with champagne. Except for Thor, who received a sturdy looking metal cup. He cheered and began drinking immediately.

"So Steve, tell me, what was it like back in Brooklyn? I bet the crime rate was lower!" Max laughed, Steve smiled and began telling him about his childhood. Emily, even though she had heard all this before, stood gazing at him. Nate and Tony were discussing something about business, which Lyn would have minded if it didn't seem to make them so happy. Meanwhile, she talked to Clint.

"So how are you and Natasha doing?" She asked. Clint looked confused.

"What do you mean?"

Just as Lyn was about to reply, there was a soft ding.

"Oh, he's back!" Lyn squealed, running to the lift. Clint turned to Bruce, asking him what she had meant.

She met Lucas in the hallway. He was clutching two shopping bags filled with champagne. He was standing very still.

"Lyn. I can't."

"What?"

"I can't meet the Avengers! What if I spill my drink on Tony, or piss off Bruce! You mentioned what he did to that hotel room once! And Thor is a freaking god and why did you have to be friends with assassins and where do I look on Nick do I look at the eye or the eye patch or his nose and I swear if Natasha…"

"Nick and Natasha aren't even here. Everyone is looking forward to meeting you, and Bruce has promised he'll jump out the window before he ruins your place. Relax."

Lyn carefully straightened Lucas' tie, kissed him and took one of the bags.

"Everyone, this is Lucas."

The reaction was not what Lyn was expecting. No-one spoke, no-one even moved. The silence was eventually broken by Thor making an odd coughing noise. Lyn looked. He was crying. She looked at Lucas. He looked horrified, this was worse than everyone breaking things. Emily, Nate and Max stood back, all with equal looks of panic on their faces.

"Is something JESUS CLINT WHAT ARE YOU DOING!" Lyn screamed. Somehow, Clint had managed to smuggle a bow and arrows in with him (She shuddered to think where he had hidden it), which was now pointed at Lucas' head.

"You son of a bitch, you get to us through some poor girl?" Clint growled through clenched teeth.

"What are you talking about?" Lucas asked, raising his hands.

"Lyn, get over here." Steve said, holding out a hand. Lyn looked at Lucas.

"What is going on, Lyn?" he looked at her, desperate for an answer.

"I have no idea. What the hell are you guys talking about?" Lyn said. Tony stepped forward until he was right in front of Lucas who, while still being visibly terrified, held his ground.

"Does the name Loki mean anything to you? Anything at all?" Tony said slowly, staring directly into Lucas' eyes.

"He…He's a Norse god isn't he? God of mischief?" Lucas replied shakily.

Tony nodded.

"It's lovely to meet you Lucas." He said, gesturing being his back for Clint to lower his bow.


	12. Chapter 12

"So, what are we going to do?" Bruce sipped his coffee. Tony and he had called an emergency meeting the next day as they knew Lyn wouldn't be in. Thor just sat there, hanging his head. He hadn't spoken since he had seen Lucas. No-one could blame him of course.

"Well it's obviously him, there's no denying that."

"Well then how did he get here, Clint? Because I've run this through my head over a dozen times and I just can't think how losing his memory can help him gain control, gain an advantage. There is literally no way this can be part of a larger plan."

"It isn't." Thor looked up. His eyes were bloodshot. "Loki does not see mortals as I do. He sees you as inferior."

"Well yeah, we got that impression." Clint said, wringing his hands in his lap.

"It means he would never lower himself to being one of us." Tony reasoned. Thor nodded.

"Well then." Bruce stood. "How did it happen?"

* * *

In Lucas' mind, he was running. Outside, he was asleep next to Lyn in his apartment, but inside he ran for his life.

He had no idea where he was. There was an awful lot of gold, and people stared at him as he ran. He was being chased by men in thick armour. He was wearing armour himself, green and gold flashed before his eyes as he glanced down to check his feet were still moving. An older gentleman with an eye patch yelled after him, calling him a name he didn't really hear.

Soon he found himself on a bridge. It looked like it was made of multi-coloured ice. Lucas didn't have time to appreciate his beauty, he just kept running. At the broken off end a large dark man in golden armour waited. Lucas skidded to a halt. He looked to the guards and old man.

"Son…" the old man pleaded, holding a hand out to him.

"I don't know you." Lucas replied. A guard stepped forward and, without thinking, he stepped back. His stomach lurched as he fell. The old man rushed to the edge and called for him again. This time he heard the name.

"Lucas! Lucas?" Lyn pleaded as Lucas sat up in bed. "Are you okay? You were screaming, I was so scared and…" He placed his hands on her face and stared at her, like he was trying to remember who she was.

"Lyn." He said eventually. "I'm fine. It was just a dream." He brushed a tear from her face. "You worry too much."

"I know."

"What's the time?"

"4am. Do you need a drink?"

"I'm fine Lyn. We should go back to sleep."

Lyn smiled and lay back down. Lucas stayed sat up and stared at her. A familiar voice laughed.

_Lying, are we?_

_**a/n:**_

_**Aren't you lucky, 3 chapters in one day.**_

_**I must say the lack of reviews are making me paranoid. Is this just perfect and you wouldn't change a thing? or absolutely awful you've been left speechless. For me, the only bad criticism is NO criticism.**_


	13. Chapter 13

"Are you sure you're okay?" Lyn asked over breakfast the next morning. Lucas nodded in reply as he packed his case, a piece of toast in his mouth. Lyn couldn't help but feel at ease, he looked like a little kid.

"Emily and Max are helping me bring the rest of my stuff round after work, will you be home?" Lucas shut the case and took the toast out of his mouth.

"Nope." He didn't even look at Lyn, he stared at the clock intensely. Lyn frowned. It wasn't like Lucas to be distracted. She put her plate in the sink and walked up behind him.

"Are you okay?" She asked, stroking his shoulders. Lucas jumped and spun round.

"Sorry, I just…got to go." He said, grabbing his case.

Lyn sighed and grabbed her satchel before heading out the door.

"He's probably just distracted. I mean, his job is pretty important, and the wedding!" Emily suggested cheerfully as they loaded boxes into Max's car.

"Nate's been busy as well." He added. Lyn shrugged. Emily and Max looked at each other.

"You guys need a night out." Max said, "Seperately. When did you last go out with your work friends?"

"I don't know, 4, 5 months?"

"That's ridiculous! Nate and I go out with our friends at least once a fortnight!"

"You have friends?" Emily teased. Max stuck his tongue out at her.

"My point still stands, you've barely spent any time as individual people, which is really important for Lucas, the guy didn't exist for more than half a year before you two met."

"I suppose. I'll give Tony a call later."

"Can you bring me along?" Emily asked hopefully. Lyn looked at her. She had pleading eyes.

"Only because Steve seems to like you." Emily jumped and clapped happily. Lyn and Max shared a brief look before laughing.

"Come on, these boxes aren't going to move themselves."

**a/n:**

**A review! I was worried no-one was reading!**

**If people are just afraid to voice their opinion, you are stupid. I always accept criticism. But do be nice about it, don't just tell me where it's wrong, tell me where to get better! I am actually a few chapters ahead of what I publish, and every time I get a review I publish one regardless. So there, you have your motivation!**


	14. Chapter 14

For some reason, this night out with the Avengers was a lot more awkward than the last. Bruce smiled as Lyn and Emily entered the bar, which had other parties in it this time. Steve instantly brightened as he caught sight of Emily and Lyn found herself sitting next to Thor. Despite being fairly tall herself, Lyn felt dwarfed by Thor. It occurred to her that she had never seen him out of normal clothing, which was odd considering his line of work. In fact, the only Avenger she had seen wearing their 'work clothes' was Tony, and that was only because he used the suit to get to work one day. It certainly made them more like people to her, rather than superheroes.

"Hi Thor." She attempted to make conversation. Thor grunted and finished his drink. He stood and left her staring at her hands. She heard a shuffling sound, and then the scent of whiskey wafted into her nose. A very drunken Tony placed a hand on her shoulder.

"Lyn. Lyn-y Lyn. Lyndania. Lyndalooooooo." Tony trailed off, seeming to forget his initial point for a moment.

"You okay Tony?" Lyn asked.

"NO. I WAS ASKING IF YOU WERE OKAY." Tony roared. The entire bar turned to look. Lyn was surprised, she thought Tony getting hammered in public would be more common.

"I'm fine Tony."

"Are you sure? Because…because I thought with the whole Lucas." Tony stopped rather abruptly, making a face.

"Tony?" Lyn leant in towards him, concerned. Tony opened his mouth to reply, but what came out was about as far from words as possible.

"_Oh god!"_

"_What's happening?"_

"_Iron Man just puked on that girl!"_

Lyn looked up, terrified. Her shirt was soaked in vomit, which Tony was drunkenly pawing at, and everyone was staring at her.

"_Who is she?"_

"_She fucking Tony?"_

"_Or the Hulk?"_

"_She was awful cosy with Thor just now."_

Lyn felt tears rolling down her face as Tony gave up and curled into a cat-like ball on his chair.

"_Maybe she fucks all of them."_

"_A little Whorvenger."_

"_Even the chick?"_

"_Yeah, even the chick."_

Lyn looked to her table. Clearly they could hear, but had trained themselves to ignore. She couldn't blame them.

"I. I need to go." She muttered, grabbing her bag."

It was dark in the apartment when Lyn walked in. Lucas was sat in his chair. He wasn't reading like usual; he would have had the light on.. He was hunched over, muttering something.

"Lyn!" He sat up suddenly, like he'd been caught doing something wrong. "I thought you were going out tonight."

"Tony threw up on me." Lyn stated. She didn't want Lucas to know she was upset, which scared her slightly. Why did she feel like she couldn't trust him with her feelings?

"You're upset." Lucas stood up.

"No." Lyn replied sharply. Lucas crossed the room towards her.

"Lyn."

She looked up at him and was surprised. The face was Lucas', no doubt, but there was something else there. It was similar to what she was in Bruce sometimes; she could tell the Hulk lurked behind his friendly smile. But Lucas didn't have a Hulk. Or did he?

"Let's get you cleaned up." He smiled tenderly. Lyn nodded as Lucas led her to the bathroom.


	15. Chapter 15

Lyn woke up with the emotions of last night completely wiped from her mind. She rolled over in bed to face Lucas, who was still asleep. He looked like a child. Lyn thought about how sleeping made everything seem more innocent. She checked the time. It was about 5 minutes before they were supposed to wake up. They had a meeting with their wedding planner today. After their slight argument, they had decided to just leave it in someone else's hands. Lyn got out of bed and went to take a bath.

Lucas was sat up when the returned, a cup of hot chocolate in his hands. She smiled at how naive his tastes in drinks were.

"Good morning." He said, blowing gently on his drink. "I made you some tea." Lyn smiled and sat down on the bed making sure her towel didn't fall. She looked at Lucas closely. What she'd seen in his eyes last night had gone completely. "Something wrong?" he asked.

"Just excited about today."

"Hm." Lucas sipped his drink.

"Shower's free, by the way."

Lucas nodded, indicating he'd wait until his drink was finished. Lyn walked to the wardrobe and tried to decide what to wear.

The wedding planner was a short man who went by the name of 'Harry Hope'. He looked a bit like cupid, if cupid was a middle aged balding man who was in serious denial about his son's sexuality.

"This all looks fantastic!" Lucas said, pointing at pictures of the hall they were going to be married in. Lyn nodded.

"Are there fire exits in every corner?" She asked.

"Uh, yes."

"There's a skylight, how expensive would it be to replace the glass in that?"

"We're insured for accidental breakage."

"Define accidental."

"Lyn, I don't think this is." Lyn looked at Lucas. He nodded. If the Avengers were coming, they needed to know exactly what they were going to get.

"What are you asking here, exactly, Miss Barker?"

"The Avengers will be attending. Will this hall be able to accommodate them needing to leave suddenly?" This seemed to stun Mr Hope for a moment. He double checked some of the accounts for the building.

"Yes, it's covered for superhero damage."

"That's a thing now?" Lucas asked, looking slightly amused.

"Doesn't it have to be?" Mr Hope raised an eyebrow. Lucas looked like a child that had been scolded. "So when do I get to meet the parents for the rehearsal?"

There was a pause. Lucas spoke first.

"I don't have any family." He rubbed the side of his head, like someone was yelling at him.

"Well, what about the bride?"

"Uh…My parents." Lyn stared at her hands. "They left while I was at college. I haven't seen them since."

"You never told me that." Lucas said surprised. Lyn shrugged him off.

"I'm having Thor walk me down the aisle instead. He asked if he could especially. Nate's your best man, right?" Lucas nodded.

They resumed planning the wedding for several hours before returning home.


	16. Chapter 16

Tony Stark was at a wedding.

He was bored.

It was the wedding of Lyn, the 2nd best assistant he'd ever had (the first being Pepper, but he'd never tell her that), which made it slightly more interesting. But the main reason he was concentrating on the proceedings was her almost husband Lucas. Although they had backed off publicly, The Avengers and SHIELD were still keeping an eye on him. Tony had also managed to obtain some DNA, which would have been great if they had any of Loki's DNA to compare it to. Thor had sent a message to Asgard concerning it, but there had been no word back.

Tony mimicked the others as they turned to watch Lyn walk up the aisle. He wasn't really paying attention. His mind was running about 100 different scenarios as to what could happen, the most normal of them being Pepper deciding she wants to get married. This also happened to be the least terrifying. He wondered what the exact chances were of a regular human looking exactly like Loki. They were probably around the same odds of two brothers saving the world from some kind of apocalypse. In other words, slim to none.

"Doesn't she look beautiful?" Pepper sighed. Tony's thoughts shot straight back to Pepper and marriage. He swallowed.

"Pepper, I…"

Tony was interrupted by the official staring the ceremony.

* * *

The reception was slightly more interesting than the ceremony, mostly because of Steve's awkward behaviour towards Nate and Max. While Steve was very open minded, he couldn't help slipping up and ramming his foot into his mouth at every available opportunity. It didn't help that Nate and Max took everything he said in the dirtiest way possible.

"I never got to ask, how did you two meet?"

"Well we met in a book shop; we got kicked out for starting a fight over a book."

"Figures!" Steve laughed. Nate furrowed his brow. "I mean because you look so educated and well groomed and I'll just go and eat some tiny hot dogs in the corner." Steve rambled. Max called after him as he walked away.

"Can you grab me some Steve-y, you know I love wieners!"

Steve turned bright red and rushed off to the food table. Nate and max cracked up laughing, only to be scolded by Emily. Tony smiled and looked over to Lucas, who was standing awkwardly by Lyn while she talked to Bruce about some of his recent supply requests. Even on her wedding day she was working. Tony admired that about her, she'd sacrificed her honeymoon because she knew they needed her. Tony decided to talk to Lucas.

"Well, I guess congratulations are in order." He smiled. Lucas looked up from his shoes and smiled. _How in the world is this guy Loki, _Tony thought.

"Thank you, Mr Stark."

"Call me Tony, please. You've married my assistant, that's a very special bond."

"I'm sure it is." Lucas muttered, sipping his drink and glancing to Lyn. Tony saw something, a flicker. Was he jealous that Bruce was so close to Lyn? No…this was a look of disapproval directed at her. But just like that it was gone, replaced with a wounded kitten. There was something off about this Lucas. The one he'd met at the engagement party, once they had stopped threatening him, was a gentleman comfortable in his own skin. This man looked like he was fighting something. Like Bruce.

"What are you drinking?" Tony asked.

"Scotch."

"Good taste. So how do you feel about the whole no honeymoon deal?"

"It's probably for the best. Lyn tells me what you and Bruce are like with paperwork. And I know what you are like with meetings." Tony raised an eyebrow.

"What are you…oh yes, you're my public image consultant. I completely forgot about that. I hope you're not being worked too hard!" Tony laughed. Lucas shook his head.

"You're Iron Man. Anyone who didn't like you generally rethought it when you saved the planet." Lucas said. Tony had to smile. Even only having an identity for what Tony suddenly realised was almost 2 years, Lucas knew exactly what kind of man he was. Tony had been alive for what, 42 more, and he still wasn't entirely certain. He was Iron Man, saviour and hero. But he was also Tony Stark, the man who made his money off weapons. It was a bit depressing to have the guy who was basically Loki point this out to him.

"You're a hero." Lucas continued. "You inspire people. Did Lyn tell you how I proposed?"

"No…" Tony said. He had a feeling this was going to be good.

"On our first date we made fun of you. A lot. So when she met me at the restaurant, I was wearing an Iron Man mask."

"How funny." Tony commented sarcastically.. Lucas smiled.

"She found it hilarious. Anyway, I continued to make jokes about you all evening, like the first date. Eventually she figured out what I was doing. I took her to the same place we'd talked after our first date, and I asked her."

"That's very sweet. How did you ask her?" Lucas began laughing. Tony raised an eyebrow.

"I got down on one knee and said it, plain and simple."

Tony looked at Lucas. Lucas smiled.

"And maybe made a crack about doing something you never would."

Tony had to laugh. Lucas was an alright guy. But from the look Thor was giving him from the bar, Lucas Doe would not exist for much longer.


	17. Chapter 17

"Good morning." Max whispered as Nate's eye finally opened. Nate smiled at his hopeless romantic.

"You know, you could have made coffee."

"But you looked so peaceful. I didn't want to leave you."

Nate laughed at his fiancé's puppy-dog face and sat up.

"Well I have work, so a cup of warm caffeine would really help." He said. Max made a face. "Please?" he added.

"It'll be waiting for you when you get out of the shower." Max kissed Nate's forehead before walking out into the kitchen. Nate laughed; his fiancé was naked. And the blinds weren't closed.

* * *

Lyn awoke to a note on the dining room table.

_I had to head into work early. Sorry.  
Lucas x_

* * *

Nate arrived at the office and immediately was swarmed by his PA, Caitlin. She walked with him, her heels clicking madly.

"Sir, Mr Hammer is demanding to see you. He says his public appearance has been declining."

"Well what does he expect? Stark is the crowd favourite, and his robots nearly maimed people."

"He says he'll fire you."

"That arrogant git paid me for the next 4 years, he can suck it."

"He might sue."

"Over what? Over people not _liking him? _We can't control the public's taste, only what they see of those they like. Hammer is an ass, Caitlin. Look at his suits for Christ's sake." He straightened his tie. "Now if you excuse me, I have a friend to see."

Nate pushed open the door of Lucas' office to see him hunched over papers. He had bags under his eyes and his hair was pushed back off his face, fixed there with what Nate could only assume was sweat. His suit jacket was slung on a nearby chair, and his tie hung over a lamp.

"Lucas?"

He didn't respond. Nate stepped closer to the desk. Lucas wasn't even writing, he was just staring at blank paper.

"Lucas." He said again, more forceful. He still didn't react. Nate slammed his hand onto the desk.

Within seconds Lucas had leapt over the desk and had Nate pinned to the floor. He was actually growling at him.

"You dare to threaten me."

"Lu-Lucas?" Nate asked, terrified. He tried to move but Lucas had him pinned. This was odd. Lucas had barely any body strength, how was he doing this?

"Mortal fool." Lucas hissed. He looked up, suddenly distracted. Nate seized the opportunity and shoved his friend off him. He tried to run, but Lucas grabbed him by the shirt. Nate felt a sudden pain in his forehead. Lucas had head-butted him. He felt something trickling down his head. He was bleeding. At the sight of the blood, Lucas' expression changed, he looked shocked, confused, even a bit sick.

"Nate?" he asked, letting go. Nate back out of the room, and began to run.

"Nate?" Lucas asked again, tears running down his face.


	18. Chapter 18

Lyn laughed into her phone as the elevator dinged and she stepped into her apartment. She hung up her bag, still talking.

"No, Tony, you are not to touch any of those forms until tomorrow. You'll get it all wrong and I'll…"

Lyn stopped mid-sentence. The apartment was dark. She flicked on the lights and gasped.

The whole apartment was broken. The paintings that used to be on the wall were on the floor, bar one, which was embedded in the sofa. Books with pages ripped out covered the dining room.

"Tony I…I think I've been robbed." She said into the phone. Tony encouraged her to stay on the line, he'd be right over. Lyn ignored his instructions and hung up. Lucas should be home. She ran to the bedroom. The bathroom door was open.

Inside, Lucas was sat up opposite the sink. He wasn't conscious, but his chest was moving up and down slowly. He looked like someone had beaten him half to death. The mirror was smashed, and some pieces of it were in his hair. Lyn rushed to his side, checking him over. Tears clouded her vision. He wasn't dead, he couldn't be dead. Not Lucas. Not now. They had plans. He mentioned having children the other night. She checked his hands. In one was a clump of black hair, and the other had bits of the broken mirror stuck in it. She didn't understand. Had he fought? No. The hair was his. She began to sob. Heavy footsteps behind her made her look around. Tony stood there in the suit. He knelt down next to her.

"He needs help." she managed to say after a minute or so. Tony nodded.

"He'll get it."


	19. Chapter 19

Lucas woke up in a circular room. He had no idea how long it had been; the last thing he remembered was getting back to the apartment after work. And at work…had he actually?

He shook his head. Looking about he tried to make sense of where he was. The walls around him were glass, but beyond it was darkness. Lucas squinted in a vain attempt to see into the dark. Suddenly he was blinded by the lights turning on. As he stumbled backwards in shock he heard voices talking.

"He's awake."

"Should we let them know? All of them?"

"Yes, as soon as possible is best."

The lights turned off again and Lucas was left dazed and confused. He tried to piece together what had happened.

He had been at work; he was called in early to help one of the new guys with his first client. He'd sat down at his desk. The next thing he remembered was Nate looking at him confused, blood running down his face. He'd gone home, then…

Here.

It wasn't the first time there had been gaps. He'd just thought he was stressed. But this wasn't stress. This was the man, the man he'd seen all those months ago in his mirror. Why hadn't he told anyone? He caught sight of himself in the glass. The white, prison-like jumpsuit he was wearing had drained him of any colour he may have had left. He looked like a ghost, a shell.

Lucas sat back down, resigning himself to whatever fate his captors had planned for him.


	20. Chapter 20

Lucas was lying down when the lights turned back on. He decided not to sit up, and simply turned his head to look at the person in the room. It was a SHIELD agent he'd never seen before. Whoever this woman was, she checked the panel by his prison, made some notes and left.

The room went dark again.

This on-and-off nonsense with the lights meant Lucas couldn't sleep. Part of him wondered if this was on purpose. The rest of him was reflecting on every part of his short life. He might actually have a family sat somewhere waiting for their brother, son, or even husband to walk back through the door; it was entirely possible. Would he have to leave Lyn if he was married to someone else? Or, the more important question, would he leave her? Having to leave Lyn would be difficult, but he couldn't imagine the pain someone would feel seeing their husband and not have him know who they were.

He closed his eyes and tried to get to sleep. They wouldn't break him.


	21. Chapter 21

A deep voice woke Lucas from his sleep.

"We need to call him in soon. The situation is not improving."

It was Nick Fury. Lucas had never actually met the guy but had heard the others talk about him enough to know who he was. He was talking to the woman from earlier.

"Hill, we need to rush Thor on this."

"Yes, Director Fury." The woman began to leave.

"And inform Dr Banner as well." Fury called out to her; she nodded. Fury turned to look at Lucas who was now sat upright. Lucas swallowed.

"Can you tell me what is going on?" He asked. Fury shook his head and left without a word. Lucas wasn't sure if he was actually responding to him or not. He looked about as he was left alone once again. He'd moved in his sleep.

It was only moments before the light turned back on again. It was Tony. He had a drink in his hand and didn't look too stable on his feet.

"Tony?" Lucas asked. Tony didn't respond; he just stood there glaring at him. "Tony?" he asked again. This seemed to make Tony angry. He yelled something Lucas didn't quite catch and threw his drink on the ground. He stormed out of the room.

The lights turned off.


	22. Chapter 22

When the lights finally came back on, after what couldn't have been more than a few hours, Fury was back and he wasn't alone. Lyn was there, which made Lucas stand and rush to the glass of his prison. But there was Thor, and an older gentleman. He seemed familiar somehow, like they had passed on the street once. Thor and the gentleman muttered to each other. Lucas looked to Lyn, who was avoiding eye contact and staring at the clipboard in her hands. Bruce entered, and put his arm around her. He whispered something and Lyn nodded.

"Lyn?" Lucas spoke, his voice strangely hoarse. Perhaps more time had passed since Tony's visit than he had thought. "Lyn. What's going on?" Bruce carefully squeezed Lyn's arm, whispering to her again. "LYN. LOOK AT ME." Lucas yelled. What was going on? He saw tears running down Lyn's face as Bruce continued to whisper to her. Fury addressed the gentleman.

"Thank you for understanding our urgency Odin; we need to fix this as soon as possible."

"Fix what? Bruce? Thor? Will someone tell me what is going on?!" Lucas begged. Thor looked at him briefly before shaking his head. He placed his hand on the gentleman's, Odin's, shoulder.

"It will be for the best father. Loki will probably not even remember his time here." Father? Lucas thought. This is Thor's father? And who was Loki?

"Lyn. What is going on?" Lucas begged again. Fury whispered something to Bruce, who took the clipboard from Lyn and handed it to Fury. Bruce began to lead Lyn from the room. Lucas couldn't help but notice how close he held her.

"Have you been cheating on me with him? Is that why I'm here, to get rid of me?" he yelled. The edges of his vision started to blur as he became angrier, but he ignored it. Fury looked to Odin with urgency.

"I am truly sorry, Lucas doe." He said. Lucas looked to see Odin holding out a long golden staff. He began to turn it. Lucas felt his legs give way.

"_Lyn?"_


	23. Chapter 23

Loki opened his eyes. The last thing he remembered was Odin yelling; his adoptive father had thrust out his staff and then…nothing. His eyes had opened and he'd found himself back on the Hellicarrier, in the prison he'd briefly called home during his attempted conquest.

He was being stared at. Loki looked to see Thor and Odin watching him curiously.

"Father," he smirked, "What a surprise to see you amongst mortals." He was of course addressing the small army of SHIELD agents that surrounded his prison. "To what do I owe the honour of this lovely cell?" Almost instantly his question was answered in the form of Nick Fury coming in the doorway.

"Loki." He said flatly.

"Fury, how nice to see you again. How are your agents?" Loki laughed.

"Shut up." Fury responded.

"Brother, do you remember anything of your time on Midgard?" Thor asked. Loki looked at Thor with disdain.

"Of course not. Why would I even try to remember such a tedious time?" There was a brief noise. Loki looked to see a woman was in fact standing slightly behind Fury. His heart stopped temporarily and he felt a sharp pain at the back of his mind. He ignored these and tilted his head curiously. "Who are you?" he asked.

"No-one." She replied. Loki stepped forward; he pressed a hand against the glass of the prison, glaring at her intently. He knew this woman somehow, he was sure of it. Every part of her drew him in. She nervously fiddled with the clipboard in her hands; her hands looked so soft and forgiving. To the last inch she looked perfect. Who was this woman?

"She is no-one of importance, Loki. Merely an assistant for Banner and Stark." Thor quickly shifted to stand in front of her. Loki was disappointed as she muttered something and left quickly. Was she always this shy?

Loki agreed to return to Asgard peacefully. He still couldn't get that Midgardian woman out of his head. Perhaps she was an Asgardian sorceress, posing on Midgard to monitor what Stark and Banner were doing.

Over the next few days Loki found himself thinking a lot about things. He was confined to his room, which he began to think was fair punishment. When he was around, Loki asked Thor about the Avengers. He'd never been this curious about them; suddenly he felt compelled to learn about their lives. He found himself both curious at these new thoughts and accepting them. Something had changed within him.


	24. Chapter 24

While Loki questioned his existence and purposes in life, as well as the existence of certain people; Lyn continued with her life the best she could. She had sold the apartment and moved back in with Emily, who was more than happy to have her roommate (and rent money) back. Lucas Doe had been declared officially dead after a small plane crash. After all, those things have such terrible flight records. Bruce had begun to grow concerned as Lyn spent more and more time at work, until eventually Tony convinced her to just spend more time with the Avengers. They were the only people who truly understood her situation; everyone else treated her like a grieving widow. Fury had banned her from telling anyone, even Emily. Lyn was slightly grateful; how do you tell someone that? 'Oh yes my husband was actually a Norse God who tried to take over the world a few years ago who had lost his memory. He's remembered now and returned to Asgard.' That would be too awkward. She decided she wasn't going to tell anyone anyway.

It was during one of these nights out with the Avengers that Lyn now sat at. She'd been talking with Tony and Bruce for most of the evening, but decided to go and talk to Thor for a bit. They'd become closer since the Loki situation had been resolved and she felt she could talk to him about a lot more than she could the others.

"Thor." She greeted him with a simple nod.

"Lyn. How are you fairing?" Thor smiled, holding up his large mug of beer. She sat down next to him, a certain conversation on her mind.

"Same old, same old. You know, I've never asked you and I've always meant to. What's Asgard like?"

"Oh, wonderful." Thor's face lit up. He spent the next few minutes describing to Lyn everything about his home. It seemed like a wonderful dream. He described to her the golden spires, the palace he'd grown up in. He laughed at the hiding places and cosy corners only a child would ever know about. He went on to talk about the pranks Loki had played on him, and the amount of times he had snuck into his brothers room with food after he had been barred from dinner. The two laughed as he told her about the one time he attempted to prank Loki back. As the other patrons to the bar left, leaving only the Avengers and Lyn, Thor had reached the tale of how he came to Midgard. He slowed his speech, dwelling on each detail with an expression that didn't suit his earlier storytelling. Lyn felt like she should tell him to stop, but it looked like it helped him somehow.

"Why would he do it?" Thor broke from his story and stared at Lyn. She shrugged. Thor grabbed her arm.

"You knew Lucas so well, but he was Loki. Just with no memories. Where is the difference Lyn. Where?" he demanded. Lyn placed her other hand on the hand which clutched her arm. She was concerned for her safety.

"I don't know Thor. Maybe we should take you home." Thor sniffed and nodded. He seemed like a small child. The rest of their party decided to leave as well. Lyn took Thor by the hand and guided him behind the others as they left.

* * *

The next morning Lyn awoke in an unfamiliar place. She quickly checked herself; she was wearing a man's t-shirt and her underwear. Looking around she confirmed she must be in Stark Tower, she'd seen those views almost daily in the lab. Someone entered the room. It was Thor.

"Lyn." He smiled. "Did I disturb you?" Lyn was busy thinking to answer his question. What had happened after she brought Thor back here? Had she slept with him? If they had slept together did either of them have in insight to use protection?

"Oh my god." She whispered to herself at the thought of carrying a perhaps-not-so-mini-Thor.

"Lyn, you have nothing to fear. After you returned me here we drank for at least another hour. Tony suggested it. I slept elsewhere." Lyn couldn't help but sigh in relief. She smiled.

"Of course, you wouldn't…I'm sorry for thinking it."

"Tony is calling a car to take you home."

"Thank you Thor. For last night; it was nice talking to you."

As Lyn stood to leave Thor took her hand and kissed it, smiling playfully.

"It was nice having someone with which to speak."

* * *

**A/N:  
I feel the need to say there is definitely no romance here between Lyn and Thor. They're both recovering from the whole Lucas/Loki thing and so use each other for support. In my mind Thor is currently dating Jane (or at least expressed a strong interest in her), and wouldn't ruin anything he has there.  
****On a happier note I love all the e-mails I'm getting for this! I love every review and every favourite and every follower. I want you all to know it makes me really happy to see people reading this! Also, if I use any wording that isn't strictly American, I apologize. I am British and therefore not completely aware of what sayings the US does and does not use. I've tried to stay as neutral as possible.**


	25. Chapter 25

It was Thursday and it was raining. Lyn struggled closing her soaking wet umbrella as she walked through the lobby. The old security guard wasn't there. She frowned; it wasn't like him to be late. She balanced the coffees between her knee and the elevator wall as she finally closed her umbrella. Placing it in the stand as she got off, she walked into the lab.

"Jesus Lyn!" Tony shrieked, "These shoes are worth $200!" He retreated from the growing puddle of coffee. But lyn wasn't listening. She was a little preoccupied staring at the gentleman who had been talking with Tony. He was a tall man wearing jeans and a grey-green jumper rolled up to his elbows. As he also retreated from the coffee he raised a hand to his dark hair. He laughed.

"You're certainly a clumsy one!" the corners of his eyes crinkled as he smiled. Lyn still stared at him. He grabbed some paper towels from the side and began to dab at the puddle. He looked up at Lyn. "Are you okay?" he asked. Lyn felt her knees give way and saw Tony dash towards her as it all went dark.

* * *

It was still raining when Lyn finally awoke on the sofa with a note left for her on the table. She read it.

_Told Loki you had low blood sugar. Fury's in Tony's office.  
Bruce._

She marched into Tony's office, which was separate from the lab, and slammed her hand down hard onto the desk. Fury looked up at her, his eyebrow raised.

"Why didn't you tell me?"

"It wasn't important."

"Oh of course, Loki working at Stark tower isn't relevant to the person who has to fill out all of the paperwork. The person who also happened to be married to him."

"That wasn't…"

"OH SHUT UP." Lyn cut him off. She didn't care if this lost her the job, she needed to vent and Fury was at this moment a conveniently placed punching bag. "Don't you think I'm aware it's not the same person, the same mind in there? But it's still his face, his body; he even has the same smell! You can tell me every day of my life that it's not Lucas, and I'll know it, but it doesn't make looking at him any less painful! The only person who has any idea what I feel right now is Thor! The Thor you sent halfway across the world last Monday!" she paced the room as she ranted. Fury just sat there and took it. Eventually Lyn calmed down and fell into a chair; she was completely drained.

"Do you want to take some time off, get used to the idea of working with him. We can't send him back; he's too useful to the work."

"Will I still get paid?" Lyn asked, rubbing her forehead with both hands. There was an audible pause.

"Yes."

"Can you go get me some of Tony's best scotch?" she asked, looking up at her boss. His mouth twitched.

"Go home, Miss Barker."


	26. Chapter 26

"Coffee's back!" Tony cheered as Lyn walked into the office. It had been a month since Loki had begun working with Bruce and Tony, but Lyn hadn't been there. She'd finally returned to work and, to Tony's delight, resumed her morning coffee run.

"Your hair looks nice." Bruce commented. Lyn had allowed her hair to grow longer than she usually liked; she had it up in a ponytail and it still reached the middle of her back. She shrugged, handing him is decaf. She crossed the room and set down Tony's drink by him. He smiled at her. Loki was in the middle of the room, carefully welding some kind of circuitry. It was obvious Tony and Bruce had been teaching him; Thor was still amazed by the idea of a paper shredder. She placed his drink a careful distance from his work and returned to her desk.

She returned to the lab moments later with the pile of forms from her desk.

"Did you guys not even bother checking your in-tray while I was gone?" she said, handing Bruce some of the papers, which he quickly began to read. "One month of paper work, that's 4 WEEKS. How are you not in the middle of some kind of apocalypse?" She put Tony's forms on the edge of his table. The next few forms were for Loki. She handed them directly to him. "Look, there's even the confidentiality form for you to sign, which was due in weeks ago! I am never leaving you guys alone again, you're hopeless." She turned away from Loki to face Tony. He looked up at her from the paperwork.

"Sorry Mother." He pouted. Lyn couldn't help but laugh, but quickly stopped when she heard Loki speak.

"How did you know I like hot chocolate?" he asked. Lyn froze facing away from Loki, her mouth slightly open. She recalled that, as she ordered the drinks, she'd been thinking of Lucas, not Loki, as the receiver of the third. No-one had told Loki what he had done as a human, and he clearly didn't remember himself. Lyn felt a lump forming in her throat. She finally thought she'd be okay.

"I told her." Tony said. Loki shrugged, accepting the lie and continued to drink. He held out the forms for Lyn to take. She took them and rushed from the room, leaving him looking very confused.

"Is she okay?" she heard him ask as the doors shut behind her. Sitting down in her chair, Lyn attempted to rub the feelings out of her head. She took a big gulp of the coffee she'd bought herself and set about whatever work she had been given for the day.

By lunch Lyn had completely forgotten about the incident with Loki. The same could not have been said for him. As he skimmed over Bruce and Tony's notes concerning their plans for the tesseract for what could have easily been the 100th time, he found himself thinking of the assistant. The way her laugh echoed around the room was wonderful. This wasn't the woman he'd seen at the Hellicarrier; she was better. He wondered why she had been so sad that day. No, this was stupid. Why did he find himself…interested in this common Midgardian thing? He closed his eyes, attempting to force the idea of her from his mind. But he couldn't. She was the reason he'd decided to come here and help Bruce and Tony; he wanted to be close to her, to touch her skin and see if it was as soft as he expected it to be…

"Loki, is something wrong?" Bruce's voice interrupted his train of thought. He opened his eyes.

"Uh, no Ban...Bruce; I'm just a little tired." He replied quickly. Getting used to called Banner and Stark by their first names was a bit of a chore. Bruce glanced down, raised an eyebrow and the left. Loki looked down to see what he had raised an eyebrow at.

_Ah. Well that explains quite a bit._


	27. Chapter 27

It took a couple more weeks, but eventually Lyn found she was comfortable working with Loki. Loki however, could not say the same.

Every time she walked into the room the smell of her seemed to head straight to him. He couldn't focus when she was there. And the worst part was the thoughts he had while she was there. Loki was not some inexperienced fool, but he didn't enjoy thinking about a woman like that in his workplace. He had to sit ridiculously close to his desk and keep his head down. He barely spoke to her and stopped taking forms directly from her; she had to place them on his desk like she did for Tony. Hating these thoughts and emotions made him exhausted. He thought about confiding in someone, but the only person he trusted with this kind of…well, he couldn't really call it a problem as that would imply he disliked it. And he didn't. He liked these feelings, he liked her. He decided to confide in Thor the next moment he became available. Tony, however, had other plans.

It was a Friday afternoon and Loki had spent a relatively stress-free day. The woman, he still hadn't remembered what he'd been told was her name, had delivered their coffee and then left them to their work. This appeared to be a regular Friday routine, as she had to make sure all of this week's work was properly filed. Tony approached Loki's desk as his eyes began to wander towards the doors, curious if she would enter.

"Desperate to leave?" Tony joked. He didn't wait for Loki to respond. "We're going out for some drinks, do you feel like coming?"

"Sure." Loki replied. Maybe going out, drinking, that would help a little. Perhaps not as a long term solution, but at least until he could talk to Thor. It occurred to him that prior to his forgotten time on Midgard he would have never sought out Thor's help, but he had been feeling different lately. He had stopped resenting his father's decisions, and had begun to see the reasons behind them. It was all very confusing, maybe considerable amounts of alcohol would make it all go away for a bit.

* * *

Loki stared at the amber liquid sitting at the bottom of his glass. It had been untouched all evening. It would probably have been gone and replaced multiple times, except Tony had forgotten to mention that the secretary was joining them on their night out. He didn't want to drink around her in case the alcohol got the better of him. He couldn't hold his drink as well as Thor. It was a pretty interesting evening so far. Bruce was not present, he had work to do, and Steve had to meet someone. So it was just Tony, Natasha, Clint, the secretary and him. Looking up briefly, Loki saw the secretary had also kept the same drink for the past few hours. She was staring into much like he was, but he was certain she'd been looking at him moments before he looked up. He felt an elbow in his side.

"Her name is Lyn." Clint whispered in his ear. Loki was surprised.

"Thank you." He whispered back. He drank the amber liquid, which did not taste as sweet as its appearance implied, and stood up.

* * *

Lyn was drunk.

No-one had seen her drinking; she was subtle about it. She knew she was drunk because the room gained a slight tilt and wouldn't stop swaying. Also she had the urge to do some things which would probably get her fired, or even killed.

"Lyn, right?" a familiar voice gained her attention.

"Loki!" She exclaimed. He looked surprised. Clearly he thought she was sober.

"Are you drunk?" he laughed.

"A little." She giggled. She attempted to stand to talk to him better, but ended up tripping on the chair leg and stumbling into him. The rest of the table appeared to be distracted by some flaming shots which had been brought to concern themselves with what was going on. Loki laughed at Lyn as he caught her.

"Maybe you should have some coffee."

"Hate it. I prefer hot chocolate." Lyn mumbled, managing to stand. Loki smiled.

"Hot chocolate then." He suggested. Lyn nodded. Loki gently sat her down in a chair before leaning over to Tony.

"Lyn needs to sober up; thanks for inviting me." He said. Tony nodded and returned to the shots, laughing and falling over as Clint failed to understand how to drink it.


	28. Chapter 28

Lyn's head was pounding even harder than the night she'd spent talking with Thor. That had been 6 weeks ago. She hadn't drunk anything since that night, which probably explained why she felt so rough now. Sitting up and making sense of the blurry room around her she was relieved to see she was at home. But something didn't seem right. She looked to see the other side of the bed messed up, like someone had slept there and left in the morning. There were clothes on the floor too; a mixture of male clothes and her own confirmed she hadn't spent last night alone. The fact that her jeans hung on the door handle made her rub her face wearily.

Last night was slowly slotting back into her mind as she got up and pulled on her underwear and a dressing gown. Someone had spent the night, she'd have to apologize to Emily when she saw her, but for the life of her she couldn't remember who this mysterious man was. She opened her bedroom door to hear the sound of someone cooking. It looked like she'd have to apologize sooner rather than later.

"Emily I am so sorry for last night, I was…" Lyn trailed off as she saw who was at the kitchen counter. He was just setting down a plate of pancakes.

"Good Morning." Loki said. Lyn noticed he was only wearing a pair of boxer shorts; the rest of his clothes were in her room. "I made you breakfast." He pointed to the pancakes. Lyn sat down at the counter.

"Uh, have you seen my roommate?" Lyn asked, picking up a warm pancake and biting it. She was surprised at how good it was and wondered how Loki had learnt. By the amount he'd made it might have been the only food he could cook.

"I think she's still asleep." He paused, starting to eat a pancake. "Do you…do you remember last night?"

Lyn appreciated the parallel the universe had just thrown her.

"It's there somewhere." She commented. "Most memories are, we just can't get at them." Reaching for a second pancake she studied Loki's face. He appeared to think about what she said, but didn't dwell on it too long.

"I assume you know what we did." Lyn nodded. There was silence for a bit as the two slowly ate the pancakes.

"What else can you cook?" Lyn asked after the pancakes had gone.

"Grilled Cheese." Lyn couldn't help but laugh.

"Is that all you've been eating?" She asked. Loki looked down at his feet like a child being told off and nodded slowly. "You should get Tony to…"

Lyn was distracted by the familiar sound of Emily stumbling around her room. She suddenly remembered that Loki had the face of a dead man. Even worse, the face of her dead husband. She didn't have time to respond before Emily opened the door. Loki turned to look at her.

* * *

Emily was not a morning person. Her mind didn't wake up until after a morning coffee and a bowl of cereal coated in a thick layer of sugar. She woke up from a 4 hour sleep after a 10 hour shift and was most definitely not ready to face the day. As she left her room she saw several things which demanded the use of her brain. The first was Lyn in a familiar robe which she referred to as her 'post-sex robe', as she'd only seen her roommate wear it after she'd had a guy over. The second was a tall dark haired man in his underwear who was looking at her. She looked back at him and even in her morning state recognised him.

"Lucas?!" She cried. "You're dead! You died! I went to your funeral! LYN! WHAT IS GOING ON?" she ended up screaming at her roommate. Lyn raised her hands.

"He's not Lucas. I can explain, Emily. I wanted to, but Fury…"

Lyn stopped to look at Not-Lucas. He was looking at the two of them strangely. Lyn walked forward and pushed Emily backwards into her bedroom.

"I'll explain later, all you need to know right now is that he is not Lucas. He's called Loki." She kept her voice low so Loki wouldn't hear.

"The evil guy who destroyed half of New York?" Emily said, clearly not having the same concern over the volume of her voice.. Loki heard her and raised an eyebrow at his reputation preceding him.

"…Yes. He's different now. He's working for Tony and Bruce." Lyn whispered. Emily sighed.

"Explain it later. Both of you need to get to work." She mocked. Lyn cursed and turned to look at Loki.

"You can shower first." She said. Loki nodded and listened to her patiently as she explained how to work their shower.

While Loki was in the shower Lyn stood in her room. She selected the clothes she would wear today and collected the exact change for the coffee she was going to buy, placing it by the clothes. She packed her bag with what she thought she'd need and some things she hoped she wouldn't, briefly stepping into the kitchen to retrieve her pre-made lunches. Just as she finished her morning preparations she turned to see Loki standing in the doorway.

Soaking wet.

Completely nude.

"Uh…there weren't any towels."


	29. Chapter 29

"What in the world are you talking about Tony?" Natasha sat down next to Clint on the sofa carefully handing him his drink while sipping her own. She noted a look from Tony suggesting she should have got him a drink, to which she rolled her eyes.

"I'm talking about Loki. Something happened to him Friday."

"What makes you say that?" Natasha sat back into the sofa as Bruce questioned Tony's logic. She enjoyed the two of them arguing about nothing in particular. The entertainment value of their arguments dropped as soon as it headed into topics she knew nothing about. A debate about Loki and his private life showed good promise.

"He came in on Saturday wearing the same clothes as Friday."

"Thor's been known to wear the same clothes for weeks on end; maybe he forgot how to work the washing machine again." Tony scoffed at Bruce's excuse. Natasha smiled and rested her head on Clint's shoulder. As the two geniuses continued arguing he whispered to her.

"I love it when they fight."

"So do I." She replied. Natasha looked to the door as it slid open. Loki walked in.

"Hey braniacs," Clint called, "Why don't you ask him?" Natasha tried not to laugh; Loki resembled a deer caught in the headlights as Tony practically jumped over the back of the sofa and marched up to him.

"Loki, what happened on Friday?" Tony demanded.

"I have no idea what you're talking about." Loki laughed, clearly trying to get Tony to step away; despite his small stature he was somehow inches from the gods face.

"You and Lyn?" Bruce chipped in from the sofa. Even from the sofa Natasha saw the colour drain from Loki's face. Tony laughed triumphantly.

"So something did happen!"

"Well, I…uh…" Loki stammered.

"Loki?" Bruce asked, turning to face them, draping his arm over the back of the sofa.

"We slept together." Loki admitted bluntly.

There was silence for a few minutes, besides Loki attempting to catch his breath after his panicked confession.

"Have I done something wrong?" he asked eventually. Tony's expression changed completely.

"No, no…" he looked down, thinking about something. "I need to make a phone call." He muttered before leaving. Bruce waved Loki over to the sofa. He decided to join them. Natasha still stared at him. She knew Lyn hadn't been entirely sober that night. Maybe it was her prejudice against the man that had called her a 'mewling quim', but she wasn't entirely convinced Loki was going to be in the right here. Clint apparently had the same idea as her, and spoke as soon as Loki sat down.

"Did she consent?" he asked bluntly. Consent, or rather the lack of it, had been a sore spot for Clint since the incident with the tesseract.

"Of course." Loki said. "I returned her to her home and she told me to come inside for some hot chocolate. She needed to sober up and she probably wouldn't have drunk any should I have left; so I agreed. She didn't say anything for a while, and then she just…" Loki went quiet, leaving his mouth hanging open. Natasha noticed the corner of his mouth twitch slightly. That must have been when it had started. She didn't particularly want to hear the details of the whole thing. Luckily neither did Bruce.

"We get the idea; we just wanted to make sure. She was drunk."

"I would never take advantage of a woman like that. Neither would Thor. We were raised to be respectful to women. That and we had Lady Sif to keep us thoroughly in check." Natasha smiled at the thought of a slightly smaller, perhaps even weedier Loki getting beaten up by the Sif she'd seen in file photos. Bruce placed his hand on Loki's shoulder.

Meanwhile in the hallway, Tony was making his important phone call.

"Hello?" A confused voice that Tony didn't recognise answered the phone.

"It's Tony."

"Tony Stark. Hello." The voice got slightly higher. This was the voice Tony recognised; it was Lyn's roommate.

"Is Lyn there?"

"Uh, yeah…." There was a muffled movement of the phone and Tony could swear he heard a familiar male voice in the background.

"What do you want Tony." Lyn sounded irritated.

"Did I hear Steve in the background there?" There was a silence. Tony imagined Lyn shooting a look at Emily and the guest that was possibly Steve. He'd been on the receiving end of Lyn's looks; it was not enjoyable.

"I'm not at liberty to discuss that. What do you want?" She asked again. Tony heard a door shut on the other end of the line and the other voices had stopped. Lyn had moved to another room.

"I'm calling about Friday. You and Loki, bedroom antics and such…"

"Did he say anything?"

"He's talking to the others; I wanted to talk to you." Tony heard Lyn sigh and predicted she was rubbing her nose like she did when he was behind on paperwork.

"It's fine Tony. I wasn't as drunk as everyone thought. The air sobered me up and…I took an opportunity okay. You can't judge me for that."

"I'm not judging you." He paused, wondering what direction to take the conversation in. "I just wouldn't like it if my favourite assistant was forced to take a leave of absence. Again."

"I'm your only assistant."

"You're forgetting about Pepper."

"Pepper was your guardian."

"You're still dodging my question."

Lyn sighed again. Tony waited for her reply. She sounded tired, was that good or bad? What was Monday going to be like? Saturday wasn't horrible as no-one else knew, but now…

"Safety is always a priority Tony. I'll see you tomorrow." The background noise of Lyn's apartment ceased with a soft click.

Tony walked back into the lounge in time to see Bruce place his hand on Loki's shoulder.

* * *

**a/n: I apologize if this chapter seems awkwardly written. I just wanted to make it really clear that Lyn and Loki were two responsible consenting adults. I don't like accidental ambiguity in my writing, especially when it comes to sex.**


	30. Chapter 30

Lyn pulled her coat up around her ears as she left Stark tower. A few flakes of half-assed snow flew around her face. The likelihood of a white Christmas was unlikely, but everyone hoped regardless. She thought about where she'd been at the start of the year. She'd been happily engaged to a wonderful guy, married in the second month…where had it all gone wrong? She couldn't even remember what she'd done last Christmas. She knew during the sales afterwards Lucas had bought her presents, because he figured she might as well get more just a little later. By summer he had gone, merely a memory in the minds of those who had known him. Rubbing her hands Lyn walked to the nearest coffee shop.

"You're in here a lot, aren't you?" the barista asked. He was a good looking guy, soft brown hair that was like little feathers on top of his head. His eyes were a matching shade. He looked very young, probably a college student.

"I guess so. My bosses drink a lot of coffee." She replied, handing over her money. The barista smiled and nodded. As he turned to the next customer he slid something towards her. It was a napkin. She took it, slightly confused, and headed to a table. She unfolded the napkin to see he had written his name and number. While 'Kevin' seemed perfectly nice, Lyn crumpled up the napkin and threw it into her almost-full cup. She stood and left.

As she marched along the sidewalk she couldn't understand why it was bothering her. Maybe it was because of his assumption she was around his age. Still marching she cursed New York's lack of random public benches. Was it really that hard to put in a couple on the side of the street?

Suddenly Lyn walked into the back of someone.

"Oh god I am so…Loki! Hi!" She said, forcing herself to smile. The two had barely talked since their one night stand almost 2 months ago.

"Lyn." He greeted her with a smile.

"Anything planned for Christmas?" she said, trying to make casual conversation as they began walking. Loki appeared to have no particular reason to walk with her; he lived in the tower. She rationalized that he simply wanted some fresh air. She could sympathize.

"Thor is spending your Midgardian celebration with Miss Foster and some of her work colleagues. His invitation was not extended."

_That's probably because you tried to take over the world, _Lyn thought, but didn't dare say in case it upset him.

"What about yourself? I'm sure you will be spending Christmas with your parents?"

"No, my parents vanished…ages ago."

"What about Banner? You appear rather close."

"He's decided to head to New Zealand. Spend some time away from people and apparently close to some hobbits." Lyn laughed. Loki raised an eyebrow, missing the joke.

"What about the other Avengers? Surely Rogers doesn't have anyone to spend time with?" Lyn bit her lip, ignoring the slightly offensive nature of that statement. She'd noticed Loki's habit of calling the avengers by their last names when they weren't around, with the exception of Clint, whom he just never spoke of or to.

"He and Emily are visiting her parents. They've been getting serious lately. It's been odd, seeing him casually in my kitchen some mornings. His pancakes aren't as good as yours."

"Uh, Thank you?" he replied, a little off guard.

There was an awkward silence as the two remembered that night and following morning. An old woman smiled at Lyn as she hailed a taxi. Lyn suddenly noticed a lot of people were looking at them as they walked. Some were surprised or even shocked; the god who'd previously broken apart the city was casually walking among them. A lot more were smiling at her. She stared back at them, confused. Eventually Loki spoke up.

"It appears we are both alone for the holidays then." Lyn looked at him, slightly perplexed. Was he suggesting something? He glanced at his feet for a moment and Lyn felt her heart stop for a millisecond when he looked back at her. A snowflake danced between the two of them, landing on his cheek. It didn't melt. "Perhaps we should do something together? I understand you have a traditional meal for this time of year?"

"Do you know what Loki…I think I'd like that."

* * *

_**.**_

_**.**_

_**.**_

_**.**_

**A/N:**

**Well, that's that!**

**Thank you for reading, I hope you guys enjoyed it. This is both the longest fic and the first one I've actually completed happy!**

**Please leave a review; I love comments on my work!**


	31. Chapter 31: The End, well and truly

Lyn stared out of the window at the setting sun. She could hear Tony drunkenly yelling from the next room and she smiled. Some things were never going to change.  
Behind her the door opened and closed softly. A few moments later two hands snaked round her waist and a head rested on her shoulder. It was Loki.  
"Beautiful..." he muttered into her ear.  
"How did you know i was in here?"  
"I know you."  
Lyn smiled and spun round to face him. His tie hung around his neck, no doubt loosened the instant they arrived back at the tower.  
"The day has been kind to us." He smiled, still looking past her to the slowly darkening sky. Lyn simply nodded. Loki pulled her slightly closer until her head was on his chest.  
"It's been perfect, yes." she replied, fiddling with one part of his tie.  
"Not bad for a second wedding."  
Lyn froze. Loki let her slip from his arms as she retreated to stare at him.  
"What?"  
"There are many things a person can forget, Lyn." Loki spoke calmly, approaching her slowly. "You are not one of them." he took her left hand in his and stroked the simple gold ring he had given to her not 2 hours ago. Lyn's eyes filled with tears as she touched the one she gave him.  
In the other room, the others cheered as Tony fell over in the middle of a striptease.

* * *

**A/N:**

**There, that's it! completely done. I know last chapter was the actual ending, but I was feeling sappy and i really wanted to write this. When else do I get to end a fanfic with Tony messing up a striptease! (For the record, he was doing it to impress Pepper)**

**I guess there's nothing left to say now.**

**That's all folks!**


	32. Author's Note

**a/n: Okay so this is kind of big news.**

**I've been contemplating this for a while now and I've come to a decision.**

**I'm rewriting this story. I'm aware it's not old and I did only complete it recently, but I am unhappy with it. There was so much more I wanted to do that I was afraid of doing because I didn't have faith in my ability to write it. While writing this story I noticed I improved quite a bit and now when I reread it I dislike how I started it and how I treated everything.**

**I'll never delete this version, so feel free to enjoy it as much as you want. I'll post a link to the rewrite here when it goes up.**

**Thanks for reading this one, and thanks to one user in particular (you know who you are) for sending me constructive criticism and effectively spurring this rewrite.**

**I hope you all at least give the rewrite a chance, and if you stick with it I hope you enjoy it.**

**-Zoe.**


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